


Red Kryptonite

by ironicbird



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Superboy (Comics)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29744937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicbird/pseuds/ironicbird
Summary: A quick hurt/comfort ficlet about the aftermath of Conner being affected by red Kryptonite. Originally posted on Tumblr
Relationships: Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58





	Red Kryptonite

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Timkon hurt/comfort ficlet that I wrote just for some practice. I’ve found that when I write Timkon, I tend to focus on Tim’s personal issues more than Conner’s. I think that’s a pretty common trend among a lot of Timkon fanfic writers actually, and I lowkey think it’s because we all project onto Tim lmao. So I wanted to write a quick thing that focused more on Conner’s personal troubles than Tim’s.
> 
> Also, I was rewatching the CW Supergirl show and I was on the episode about red Kryptonite and that gave me an idea. If you don’t know, red Kryptonite is not like its green counterpart, it has varying effects on Kryptonians. According to the DC wiki, it once turned Superman into a dragon temporarily? What? Anyways, I’m going to use it the same way they used it in the show, which is that it slowly poisoned Kara’s mind to make her become evil. But this fic takes place in the aftermath...so hence the hurt/comfort lmao.

“Conner, please let me in. Please.”

“No, go away.”

Tim rested his head lightly on the doorframe, his palm splayed over the hard wood of the door. It was the closest that Conner would allow him to be right now. Tim could pick the lock if he really wanted to, but he knew that would just make the situation worse. He needed to work within Conner’s terms for now.

“Please,” Tim begged again, desperation dripping into his voice.

“I...I don’t want to hurt you again,” Conner replied shakily.

_Echoing screams all over the city. The wail of sirens speeding down the roads. The sounds of destruction crashing and booming as shards of glass and chunks of concrete fell onto the pavement below._

_Cassie had been the one to carry him to the action in Conner’s...absence. It had been ages since he had gotten a lift from anyone other than Conner. He tried to push down any emotions that had erupted from that thought. The team would need him to lead them through this precarious situation._

_Yet the fact that he was leading his friends into battle against their friend, his boyfriend, was not lost on Tim. He had no doubt that this would be difficult for all of them. But they had no choice. They had to stop Conner._

Tim brought a hand up to gently rub the blossoms of purple and blue forming at the base of his neck. It wasn’t Conner’s fault, he reminded himself.

Tim gently tapped the door again, “I just want to talk, Conner. Please.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Conner said.

“It’s not your fault,” Tim replied, “We found red Kryptonite in the ventilation system. Someone must have planted it there to hurt you.”

“You’re the one that got hurt, not me. And it was all my fault...again,” Conner’s voice broke on the last word, making Tim’s heart ache.

Tim clenched his fist, “Conner, please let me in. Please, I need to see you.”

A moment of silence lingered in the air before the door slid open with a soft “clunk.”

Conner looked like an absolute mess. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were red and puffy. Behind him, the room had been thrown into disarray. The contents of his shelves were scattered across the floor, and the sheets of his bed were barely clinging on to the mattress.

Tim wanted nothing more than to launch himself into Conner’s arms but he was afraid that a sudden movement like that could startle Conner in his fragile state. Instead, he slowly brought his fingers up to Conner’s hair, gently doing his best to fix it.

Conner leaned into the touch for a moment, before sharply seizing and drawing back. He crossed his arms and moved to the other side of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Tim said.

“No, no it’s okay it’s just...” Conner trailed off, leaving the sentence incomplete. He turned to face the window, away from Tim. An uneasy silence loomed in the air, one that neither of them knew how to break.

_Black spots cloud Tim’s vision as a strong hand wraps around his throat. Choking, gagging, he can’t even get the words out to plead for his Conner to fight this. To come back to him._

_He can hear his friends shouting in the background, trying to pull Conner off of him but all Tim can really focus on is the expression on Conner’s face. His eyebrows, the very ones that Tim had kissed gently just a few nights before, were furrowed, drawing angry lines across his face. His skin, normally clear and bright was a furious shade of red. And the beautiful ocean blue of his eyes was reduced to nothing more than a tiny ring around a massive pit of darkness._

_Tim had never seen Conner this angry in his entire life, and he had certainly never been this angry at Tim. It broke his heart to see the man that he loved like this._

“It wasn’t your fault,” Tim eventually said, breaking the quiet that had filled the room.

“It doesn’t matter if it was my fault or not. I hurt people. Again. It happened again,” Conner replied, “And worst of all, I hurt you.”

“It’s okay,” Tim said, “Everyone is okay. You only destroyed a couple of buildings. You didn’t kill anyone.”

Conner turned abruptly, “But I could have. The only reason that no one died was because you and the others managed to contain me. And not without some cost.” Conner’s eyes flicked down to the bruises around Tim’s neck.

Tim rubbed his neck gently, “I’m okay,” he said, reassuringly.

Conner looked to the side, peering out the window, “Today was my worst fears come to light. And not even for the first time. It’s becoming a pattern, and that terrifies me. How...how can I be sure that this won’t happen again? How can I know that you will be okay next time? Or the time after that? I...” he paused, drawing in a shaky breath, “How do I know that next time won’t be the time that someone dies?”

Conner started shaking slightly, and Tim couldn’t take it any more. His lingering cautions be damned. He crossed the room and wrapped his arms around Conner’s torso from behind. Tim went up on his tiptoes so that he could rest his head on Conner’s shoulder.

“You are more than this,” Tim said to him, “You are more than what the red Kryptonite did to you. You are more than anything Lex Luthor can do to you. You may not see it, but I do. You have a heart of gold, Conner Kent. And it is strong enough to overcome anything that anyone throws your way.”

_The world slowly came back into focus as the pressure eased from his throat. Tim looked up, expecting to see his friends barely managing to hold back an enraged Superboy._

_Instead, he saw Conner, unrestrained, staring at his own hand with horror. Shaking as his pupils contracted and the blue returned to his eyes._

_“What have I done?” Conner had said, frightenedly._

_“You came back,” Tim had rasped with a cough as he cleared his throat._

_“You came back to me.”_

Tim couldn’t promise that something like this wouldn’t happen to Conner again. The one thing that he did know for sure, was that Conner would never have to face it alone, and that Conner would always be strong enough to overcome it.

But those concerns were for a different day. For tonight, Tim would hold his boyfriend close and whisper reassurances in Conner’s ears until the pain abated as much as it could. Tomorrow will bring what it will, but for now, in the quiet of the night, they would take the time to heal. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y’all enjoyed! I do like to play off of Conner’s fear of being controlled/becoming evil. I mean, that boy (pre New 52 at least) was TERRIFIED of somehow becoming like Lex Luthor. He even at one point started making a list comparing himself to both Lex and Clark trying to figure out which one he was most like because he was scared he was more like Lex. Also, he did get controlled before by Lex and forced to attack his friends. He is terrified of that happening again.
> 
> But uhh anyways yea hope y’all enjoyed and don’t be shy with feedback I don’t mind even if it’s bad. I don’t like the ending but I didn’t know how else to end it without it dragging on and on and I had to get to my homework lmao.
> 
> Also, yes I know I should be working on my longfic but I needed some practice writing about Conner’s fears for that anyways mk mk.
> 
> Normally I would've left a fic of this size just on Tumblr but I would like to see Timkon overtake Jaytim as the top ship on Ao3 so I wanted to go ahead and post this on Ao3 to make the Timkon number go up lmao.
> 
> On that note, you can find me on Tumblr as scarletbirbs. Feel free to come scream in my askbox.


End file.
